Faith group calls for payday lending cap

Calling it "a moral stand, not a political campaign," the faith community Thursday called on legislators to support a 36 percent annual interest rate cap on payday lenders.

The "Faithful Pledge" campaign seeks to involve churches of every denomination in pressuring lawmakers to repeal the 2002 law that allowed payday lenders to charge more than a 36 percent annual interest rate. Today, interest rates for the short-term loans reach nearly 400 percent. "This campaign will ignite the faith community, and as you know, once the church is involved in an issue, there's no turning back and there's no making us stand down," said Ann Rasmussen, policy director for the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.

The group established a Web site and will circulate petitions in churches statewide. With all 140 legislative seats on the ballot this November, the group will target influential lawmakers who in the past have supported the industry.

"We want people to be talking about this in their communities. This shouldn't be a conversation that's just in the halls of the General Assembly or in academia," said the Rev. C. Douglas Smith, the Interfaith Center's executive director.

Christian clergy on Thursday accused payday lenders of preying on the weak and vulnerable, a "violation of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

"We know that Jesus would never condone the charging of 390 percent interest," said the Rev. Charles E. Swadley, pastor of Lakeside United Methodist Church in Richmond.

Smith said the group was not targeting those who use the loans or work in the state's nearly 800 stores. "We're certainly not saying that everyone who works for this industry is hellbound," Smith said. "I think we're saying that the premise of the industry, the fact that their business model is based on trapping people in debt and charging them 390 percent interest, is immoral."